Coal news and updates

India’s coal imports from S Africa up 13% in FY16

India’s imports of coal from the Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) in South Africa stood at 37.747 million tons (mt) during financial year 2015-16 (April-March), up 12.55% as compared to 33.537 mt imported in 2014-15, according to data available with ICMW.

Meanwhile, India’s imports of coal from RBCT in South Africa stood at 9.880 mt during Q4 (January-March, 2016) of fiscal 2015-16, up 24.73% as compared to 7.921 mt seen during Q4 of fiscal 2014-15.

On the other hand, India’s imports of coal from RBCT stood at 3,810,448 tons in March 2016, showing a year-on-year (y-o-y) increase of 23.11% compared to 3,095,169 tons imported in March 2015.

On a month-on-month basis, the imports were up 39.61% compared to 2,729,388 tons imported in February 2016, the data revealed.

India accounted for as much as 60.46% of the total coal exported through the terminal in March 2016. In fact, India accounted for as much as 50.87% of the total 74.20 mt of coal exported through RBCT in 2015-16 as its total imports stood at 37.747 mt during the year.

Moreover, India accounted for as much as 57.01% of the total 9.800 mt of coal exported through RBCT in Q4 of 2015-16 as its total imports stood at 17.331 mt during the same period of 2014-15.

Following table gives details of India's monthly coal imports from RBCT in 2016, 2015 and 2014 (in tons):